Efficacy of piezoelectric electrospun nanofiber membrane for water treatment

Abstract

In this work, a piezoelectric electrospun nanofiber membrane (pENM) was prepared to confirm its antifouling ability through the vibrational inducement of fluid instability. For the optimization of the pENM properties, the synthetic conditions (solvent ratio, tip-to-collector distance (TCD), and heat treatment time) were adjusted. The optimized properties were observed at a 5/5 acetone/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent ratio, a TCD of 20cm, and a heat treatment time of 0.5h. The optimized pENM exhibited three times higher water permeability (5573LMH/bar) and rejection performance (99.87%) for particulates than a commercial microfiltration (MF) membrane. The flux decline was reduced by 15% in the presence of a piezoelectric effect when compared to the flux decline in the absence of a piezoelectric effect. This result shows that the pENM has potential for water-treatment applications. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.